Freedom is not free. Thank you to all our veterans.

A casualty is someone injured, killed, captured, or missing in a military engagement. The Civil War had plenty of all these. The casualty totals in the Civil War can only be treated as estimates. The exact numbers cannot be exactly known.

Dead at Spotsylvania, 1864.

Due to exhaustive research by many credible and earnest Civil War scholars, the casualty numbers presented here can be considered to be as accurate as possible. I have relied on trustworthy sources for the numbers and statistics I share in this post. The exact number of Civil War casualties will forever be a topic for debate.

One fact we can be certain of regarding Civil War casualty counts, the carnage of the Civil War was immense. War and disease provided the Grim Reaper with all he desired.

Let us not neglect to know that the cold numbers and statistics shown in this post are facts that represent real people. People who fought in a vicious war, who bled red blood whether they were clothed in blue or gray. People who lost limbs or were severely disfigured, people who died miserable, slow deaths of disease or injury, people who perished instantaneously in groups during battle, or slowly had life ebb away as they sprawled alone and incapacitated in the aftermath of a major battle or minor skirmish. Many died agonizing and feverish deaths of disease. These numbers are human beings.

Dead Yankee at Petersburg, 1864.

How Many Died in the Civil War? The quick and simple answer is that no one knows for sure exactly how many died in the Civil War, neither for the North or the South. An estimate of the deaths in the Civil War is 623,026. This means that of men of service age, one out of eleven men died during the Civil War years between 1861 and 1865.

Below is a chart showing how the Civil War compares in total deaths to other wars:

A severe facial wound suffered in the Civil War.

How Many Casualties in the Civil War? For both sides in the Civil War, 471,427 can be considered as a minimum number of those wounded. When added to the estimate of 623,026 deaths, the total estimate of Civil War casualties is 1,094,453.

Greatest Union Battle Losses

+ Not including South Mountain and Crampton’s Gap.
++ Includes Chantilly, Rappahannock, Bristoe Station, and Bull Run Bridge.
Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

The Union Armies lost 110,070 killed or mortally wounded, and 275,175 wounded; for a total of 385,245. This does not include the missing in action. Of the 110,070 deaths from battle, 67,058 were killed on the field and the remaining 43,012 died of wounds.
This table shows how this loss was divided among the different arms of the service:

Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

The losses in the three main categories of Union troops were:

Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

DIED BY DISEASE. NOT INCLUDING DEATHS IN PRISONS.

Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

Deaths in the Union Army, from all causes, as officially classified.
DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES:

NOTE: The deaths from accidents were caused, principally, by the careless use of fire-arms, explosions of ammunition, and railway accidents; in the cavalry service, a large number of accidental deaths resulted from poor horsemanship.

Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

DEATHS IN CONFEDERATE ARMIES
James B. Fry, United States Provost Marshal-General, provides a report in 1865-1866 that includes a tabulation of Confederate losses. Fry’s report is compiled from the muster-rolls which are on file in the Bureau of Confederate Archives. This report is incomplete, as Confederate records can be, and often are, spotty. For example, in these records the Alabama rolls are mostly missing. Nonetheless, the numbers are worth noting. From General Fry’s report, the following table was created by William E. Fox in his Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865:

Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

Confederate Deaths of Disease:

Source of table: William E. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Eighty men without ammunition. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Gettysburg, an example of leadership and why it is important to Learn Civil War History.

NOTE: At the beginning of his talk, Andrews is in error about the date of Chamberlain’s actions. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine performed their heroics at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Civil War Re-enactors Fight Results in a Draw

I have to include this post, because the story is bizarre.

The Associated Press reports a judge on January 6, 2010 found two Civil War re-enactors (a Johnny Reb and a Billy Yank) not guilty of assault. Seems the two were involved in a re-enactment of the Battle of Stanardsville when their re-enacting became too realistic.

The two were re-enacting as cavalry officers, and Johnny Reb claims Billy Yank knocked his hat off. Johnny Reb then responded by firing his revolver at Billy Yank. Although the revolver had a blank round, Billy Yank was injured. Then the two went on to feed the lawyers.

Here is The Associated Press report:

VIRGINIA
Re-enactors’ spat settled in court

STANARDSVILLE – A judge says it’s a draw between two Union and Confederate re-enactors who got into a tussle on the battlefield.

A judge found each man not guilty of assault on Wednesday after they pressed charges against each other over the dispute last September.

The men were playing cavalry officers in a re-enactment of the Battle of Stanardsville. The Confederate re-enactor claims his Union counterpart knocked his hat off.

The Confederate was accused of responding by firing a blank round from his revolver and injuring the Union re-enactor.
The Associated Press

I’m a fan of Civil War re-enactors. I appreciate and enjoy how they strive to bring history alive for us. If you ever get a chance to see a Civil War battle re-enactment, do it. But, I have to say in my point of view, these two Civil War re-enactors are nuts. To put it in 1800s terms; these two guys are crazy as loons.

To add some actual Civil War history value to this post:

During the Civil War, the young Yankee and Rebel soldiers most likely were far away from home for the first time in their lives. It was common before the war, for these young soldiers never to have traveled more than 25 miles away from their homes. Now, they could find themselves hundreds of miles away from their loved ones and homes. Understandingly, these young men often suffered from homesickness.

To keep in touch with their loved ones, the soldiers, and their families wrote letters back and forth. Pen and ink were often not available, so most of the handwritten letters were in pencil. Rough handwriting and phonetic spelling are common in these letters. For the Union, 90,000 letters went through Washington, D.C. daily. In Louisville, Kentucky 180,000 Union letters passed through daily.

Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers was 32-years-old at the beginning of the Civil War. He was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island and after attending the National Law School in Ballston, New York he was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar. Ballou married Sarah on October 15, 1855 and they had two sons, Edgar and William. Ballou was a Republican and a strong supporter of President Abraham Lincoln. He volunteered the spring of 1861. He and his men left Providence, Rhode Island for Washington, D.C. on June 19.

Major Sullivan Ballou

As what would become known as the First Battle of Bull Run (the Confederates called the same battle the First Battle of Manassas) approached, Sullivan Ballou wrote a letter to his wife back home in Smithfield. On July 14, 1861 Ballou wrote to Sarah as he sat alone in a tent at Camp Clarke in Washington, D.C., Ballou knew that the army would soon be moving southward against the Confederates, and that he would soon see battle. We’ll never know for sure, but perhaps he had a premonition of death, because he now took the opportunity to write a touching letter to his wife. In the letter, Ballou writes of his love for Sarah, and of his duty to his country.

Many are familiar with the Sullivan Ballou letter from hearing it during Ken Burns’ documentary The Civil War which aired in 1990. The letter was introduced by narrator David McCullough, and read by Paul Roebling with Jay Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell playing in the background. It only caught the hearts of everyone who heard it. The Sullivan Ballou letter is perhaps the most emotional and memorable letter written by a soldier in the Civil War.

The version of the Sullivan Ballou letter heard in The Civil War documentary was a shortened one. Some of Ballou’s words about his family and childhood are missing from the television presentation of the letter. In fact, the original Sullivan Ballou letter apparently did not survive, and has been lost to history. There are versions of the letter available today, but it is unknown which is most similar to the original written by Ballou.

Here is the Sullivan Ballou letter as it was heard in The Civil War by Ken Burns:

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing – perfectly willing – to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence can break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you, that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes and future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood around us.

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you, nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name…

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been!…

But, 0 Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be with you, in the brightest day and in the darkest night… always, always. And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again…

Sullivan

Here is a longer version of the Sullivan Ballou letter:

July the 14th, 1861

Washington D.C.

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure—and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

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But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows—when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children—is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death—and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar—that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father’s love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God’s blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Sullivan

Major Sullivan Ballou suffered a mortal injury on July 21, 1861 at the First Battle of Bull Run. Ballou lost his right leg when a Confederate six-pounder artillery shell slammed into him and his horse as he was riding at the front of his regiment. The horse was killed instantly, and the very severely injured Major Ballou was taken off the battlefield. What was left of his leg, had to be amputated. Major Sullivan Ballou died of his battle injury on July 28, and was buried in a yard very close to Sudley Church.

After the First Battle of Bull Run, the Confederates held the ground where Ballou was buried. According to witnesses, gruesome treatment of Ballou’s body followed. Confederate soldiers (supposedly, members of the 21st Georgia Infantry, but there is some uncertainty regarding this) dug up Ballou’s body, chopped off his head, and performed further insults and profanations to his remains. With these events, Sullivan Ballou’s body was never recovered. What was thought to be the charred ash and bone of Sullivan Ballou was later put to rest at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island.

Barnes&Noble: People of Rhode Island in the American Civil War: Ambrose Burnside, George S. Greene, Frank Wheaton, Kate Chase, Sullivan Ballou

The now famous Sullivan Ballou letter may never have been mailed to Sarah. Rhode Island Governor William Sprague went to Virginia to gather the effects of soldiers from Rhode Island who had fallen at Bull Run. Sullivan’s letter to Sarah was among his personal effects, and Governor Sprague delivered the letter to Sarah Ballou.

Sarah was only 24-years-old when her husband Sullivan Ballou died. Eventually, she lived out her life with her son William in New Jersey. She died in 1917 at the age of 80 and was buried next to her husband’s remains at Swan Point Cemetery.

Sarah never re-married.

During the Civil War, soldiers would speak about "Seeing the elephant." The "elephant" was battle, combat, being under enemy fire.

Both the Confederacy and the Union had armies made up mostly of volunteers, with much fewer soldiers actually belonging to the Regular Army. Whether volunteer or Regular Army, the vast majority of these young men had never faced enemy fire. Many were away from home for the first time in their young lives. They had lived quietly and peacefully in small towns, farms, or cities. Now, they were learning to kill, and facing the great possibility of being killed. As these men trained and marched, preparing for battle, the thought of "Seeing the elephant" for the first time weighed on their minds.

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”It’s just like shooting squirrels, only these squirrels have guns.”
– A Federal veteran instructing new recruits in a musket drill.

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“Bang, bang, bang, a rattle, de bang, bang, bang, a boom, de bang…whirr-siz-siz-siz–a ripping, roaring, boom, bang!” – Confederate Sam R. Watkins describing a "fire fight." Sam Watkins was twenty-one years old and from Columbia, Tennessee when he joined up to fight in the Civil War. He kept a journal and recorded his experiences and thoughts during the war. His words give us great insight into the Civil War.   “It was eyes right, guide center! Close-up, guide right, halt, forward, right oblique, left oblique, halt, forward, guide center, eyes right, dress up promptly in the rear, steady, double quick, charge bayonets, fire at will, is about all that a private soldier knows of a battle.” – Confederate Sam R. Watkins.

I was a ploughboy in the field,
A gawky, lazy, dodger,
When came the conscript officer
And took me for a sodger.
He put a musket in my hand,
And showed me how to fire it;
I marched and counter-marched all day;
Lord, how I did admire it!
– This tune is "The Valiant Conscript" and it is sung to the music of "Yankee Doodle."

“Our men are not sufficiently impressed with a sense of honor that it is better to die by fire than to run.”
– General William Hardee of the Confederacy.

“War is at best barbarism…Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot, nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”
– William Tecumseh Sherman. These words are from his June 19, 1879 address to the Michigan Military Academy.

“We made a bargain with them that we would not fire on them if they would not fire on us, and they were as good as their word. It seems too bad that we have to fight men that we like.”
– Words of a Union soldier.

Perhaps some of you reading the LearnCivilWarHistory.com blog are veterans or soldiers who know full well what it is like to under fire. However, for most us, we can only wonder and imagine what it is like to be "Seeing the elephant," just as the young men of the Civil War wondered and imagined so many years ago.

Below are the experiences of being under Civil War fire as described by Captain Frank Holsinger. Try to imagine yourself in Captain Frank Holsinger’s shoes (or rather, brogans) as you read this stirring account of what it was like to be "Seeing the elephant” in the Civil War:

Excerpts from: How Does One Feel Under Fire?
by Captain Frank Holsinger, 19th United States Colored Infantry.

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"When the nerves are thus unstrung, I have known relief by a silly remark. Thus at Antietam, when in line of battle in front of the wood and exposed to a galling fire from the cornfield, standing waiting expectant with “What next?” the minies zipping by occasionally, one making the awful thud as it struck some unfortunate. As we thus stood listlessly, breathing a silent prayer, our hearts having ceased to pulsate or our minds on home and loved ones, expecting soon to be mangled or perhaps killed, some one makes an idiotic remark; thus at this time it is Mangle, in a high nasal twang, with “D—–d sharp skirmishing in front.” There is a laugh, it is infectious, and we are once more called back to life.

At the completion of Captain Frank Holsinger’s military service, he was given a brevet rank of major. Holsinger settled in Kansas.

Barnes&Noble: Civil War Acoustic Shadows Civil War Acoustic Shadows

The distance the sound is heard may be great, even hundreds of miles, yet nearby (sometimes mere miles away), the sounds are not heard. Battles where the Acoustic Shadow phenomenon occurred in the Civil War are Gettysburg, Seven Pines, Iuka, Fort Donelson, Five Forks, Perryville, and Chancellorsville. Acoustic Shadow could have a profound effect on a battle. During the Civil War, it was common for armies to be spread out over large distances and timely communication between the split parts of an army was crucial to battlefield success. Army commanders must make decisions based on current knowledge of the situation before them. The sound of a battle would be a form of communication, signaling to a Civil War commander and his staff where a battle is taking place, and what troops (including enemy) may be involved. If Acoustic Shadow hides battle action from being heard by a commander, then communication has been lost and dire consequences may follow as the commander does not respond as needed to the battlefield situation.

Examples of Acoustic Shadow During Civil War Battles:

• Battle of Gaines’s Mill – More than 91,000 men were engaged in battle at Gaines’s Mill, Virginia on June 27, 1862. Confederate commanders and troops were less than two miles from the battlefield and could plainly see the smoke and flashes from the guns and artillery, but not a sound could be heard of the battle for two hours. Strangely, the battle sounds from the Battle of Gaines’s Mill were easily heard in Staunton, Virginia over one hundred miles away.

Five Forks – Fives Forks was fought from March 30 to April 1, 1865 and was part of the Appomattox Campaign. Confederate Generals George Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee were enjoying a shad bake with other generals north of Hatcher’s Run when the battle of Five Forks began a short distance away. Because of Acoustic Shadow, Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee were unaware a fight was under way. Pickett finally responded, but arrived late for the battle. Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee have been criticized by Civil War historians (please see Lee’s Lieutenants, III, 665-670) for not acting on "the dread immediacy of the crisis" (ibid., 665) at Five Forks.

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• The Battle of Gettysburg – The battle sounds from Gettysburg fought on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863 could be heard over one hundred miles away in Pittsburgh, but were not heard only ten miles from the battlefield.

Today marks the 146th anniversary of The Battle of Gettysburg.

The Battle of Gettysburg

After the battle of Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee took the Army of Northern Virginia north into Maryland and Pennsylvania.

On July 1, 1863 the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac began a monumental three-day battle at a small crossroads town in Pennsylvania named Gettysburg.   Gettysburg was one of the most important battles of the Civil War. At Gettysburg, the Confederates suffered more than 30,000 killed, injured, or missing. For the Union, the number came to 23,000.   Gettysburg was a Union victory.

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"Fighting the same fight, that we’re still fighting amongst ourselves … today."

"… Listen to their souls, man …"

"You listen, … and take a lesson from the dead …"

-Excerpts from Coach Boone’s speech, in the movie "Remember the Titans."

Today it still matters and it is important, to Learn Civil War History … so we can learn from it.

"I want sudden, bold, forward, determined war,"
Senator Edward D. Baker’s reaction to Fort Sumter, as he declared it to the Senate. Baker was a unique individual, and he would play a key role in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff.

When Edward D. Baker was four, his family moved from England to Philadelphia. Baker later lived in Illinois where he was admitted to the bar in 1830. In 1835, he started in local Illinois politics and along this path he met Abraham Lincoln. In 1837, Baker was elected to the United States Congress and in 1840, to the United States Senate. Edward D. Baker defeated Abraham Lincoln in 1844 for the United States congressional seat, and was elected. Despite this, Lincoln and Baker were good friends and later Lincoln named his second son (Edward Baker Lincoln) after him.

Senator and Colonel Edward D. Baker

Baker was a veteran of the Black Hawk War of 1832, and the Mexican War, where he served as a colonel of the 4th Illinois Volunteers. After this he moved to Galena, Illinois to run for the United States Congress, thus avoiding running against his friend from Springfield, Abraham Lincoln (whom he had previously defeated). Baker was elected. Baker failed to obtain a cabinet appointment from President Franklin Pierce in 1852, so he moved on west to follow the California Gold Rush and was admitted to the bar in California. In 1860, Baker was on the move again, this time to Oregon, and following in his tradition of political success, was elected to the United States Senate. At Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration, Edward D. Baker rode in the presidential carriage and introduced Lincoln before his inaugural address.

In May, of 1861 Baker’s star again was on the rise as the Civil War began to heat up. He was authorized by the Secretary of War to form an infantry regiment that would be counted as part of the California quota. Baker raised the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry (also known as the 1st California), mostly recruiting the troops from Philadelphia, and served as this regiment’s colonel. Only a few month’s following, Baker gained command of a brigade in General Charles P. Stone’s division. Baker’s work as brigade commander was to guard fords of the Potomac River north of Washington.

In the fall of 1861, Edward D. Baker was now fifty-years-old, handsome, beardless, a close personal friend of President Abraham Lincoln, and a staunch Union supporter. He was both an Oregon senator and a colonel in the army. After distinguishing himself at many levels of law and politics, apparently further achievement awaited him as a Civil War officer.

He was a man fond of reciting poetry, was always on the move, was larger than life, and soon Baker would have the opportunity to "promote sudden, bold, forward, determined war." With a Civil War now underway, may God bless and protect any Confederate found in Colonel Edward D. Baker’s path.

Ball’s Bluff is along the Potomac River about 35 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., and is northeast of Leesburg, Virginia, it is a steep 100-foot-high bank rising above the Potomac on the Virginia shore. It has a 50-yard-deep flood plain from the river, and the bluff itself is about 600 yards wide. The steep, wooded, bank of the bluff has a 10 to 12 foot-wide cow or cart path meandering from the shore up to the top.

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At Ball’s Bluff, approximately halfway across from the Virginia shore of the Potomac River, is Harrison’s Island, the water runs swiftly through this narrow channel. From Harrison’s Island across the Potomac over to the Maryland shore, the channel is wider and shallower.

After First Bull Run, the Confederates were firmly planted in northeast Virginia and controlled most of it. In October, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had accumulated the majority of troops at Centerville. There were still some Rebel troops around Leesburg, north of Centerville, but there were rumors (a black deserter of the 13th Mississippi had told that the Confederates at Leesburg had removed supplies back to Manassas, thus preparing for a retreat) floating about that Johnston was pulling his Leesburg men back.

Union General George B. McClellan thought it might be worthwhile to see how sincere Johnston was about keeping troops at Leesburg. Camped at Langley (on the Virginia side of the Potomac), was the Pennsylvania Reserves division, it had 13,000 troops and was led by George McCall. McClellan sent McCall to Dranesville (about halfway between Leesburg and Washington, D. C.) on October 19, thinking this advancement of Yankee troops might help urge Joe Johnston to move his troops out of Leesburg.

Contrary to McClellan’s desires, Confederate commander Nathan "Shanks" Evans took up a defensive position west of Dranesville instead of withdrawing. Then to complicate the situation, on the morning of October 20, McClellan received an incorrect message saying that the Confederates had responded to McCall’s movement by withdrawing. Shanks Evan’s defensive actions west of Dranesville were misinterpreted as withdrawal.

McClellan wanted to be sure about the Confederate retreat, so he sent an order containing these following words to General Charles Stone on the Maryland side of the Potomac:

"…keep a good lookout upon Leesburg, to see if this movement has the effect to drive them away. Perhaps a slight demonstration on your part would have the effect to move them."

General Stone interpreted McClellan’s orders freely and proceeded to cross a regiment or two at Edward’s Ferry below Ball’s Bluff, and sent other troops three miles up the Maryland side of the Potomac so they could cross over to Virginia at Harrison’s Island. Stone’s thoughts were that he could apply some pressure to the Confederates, and urge them to retreat from Leesburg.

Stone’s men marching toward the crossing at Harrison’s Island were the 20th Massachusetts. It was a nighttime march, and by midnight they found themselves making the crossing from the Maryland shore. This crossing was difficult because they only had three small boats that could only ferry a combined total of 25 men at a time. There was a lot of standing around and waiting, and confusion, for those waiting to cross and those who had crossed. Near dawn on October 21, all the 20th Massachusetts found itself on Harrison’s Island looking out at the remaining river crossing of 150 yards over to the Virginia shore. There was a high and wooded bluff, Ball’s Bluff was its name. They also learned the evening previous, the 15th Massachusetts was able to get five companies over to the Virginia shore. Those men were now up on the bluff … and something was going on up there.

That morning the 20th Massachusetts made its crossing from Harrison’s Island, and climbed up Ball’s Bluff by the meandering cow or cart path. At the top, they found themselves in a glade of open ground, and with not much going on. Earlier that dawn, Colonel Charles Devon of the 15th Massachusetts had taken some troops almost all the way to Leesburg, west of Ball’s Bluff. Devon ran into some Confederate outposts during his foray, and some shots were fired. Devon was now back at the glade.

Confederates were off somewhere in the woods beyond the glade, on higher ground, and there were some pickets doing some shooting. No one knew exactly where the Rebels were, nor how many of them there might be. Colonel Devon sent word off to General Stone, reporting what he knew. Stone sent word back telling Devon to wait for Colonel Edward D. Baker, who would arrive soon with more troops, and take charge.

After some delay, Colonel Baker arrived at Ball’s Bluff and took command, ready to satisfy his want of; "sudden, bold, forward, determined war." Lincoln’s close friend was now in charge, ready to move (remember, Baker was a man on the move) against the Confederates. One can only imagine how much Baker, the successful lawyer and politician, had longed for this moment. He was known to occasionally recite poetry, and once on a battlefield had told a friend to "Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of war."

As Baker assumed command he told Colonel Devon, "I congratulate you, sir, on the prospect of a battle," and to the troops nearby he inquired, "Boys, you want to fight, don’t you?" The boys responded positively. The fight was on.

Barnes&Noble: The Maps of First Bull Run: An Atlas of the First Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign, Including the Battle of Ball’s Bluff

The Rebel fire was becoming more and more frequent, and the Johnny Rebs were concentrating in greater numbers on beyond in the woods, on the high ground. Baker had gotten a couple of guns up on the bluff, and they were put to work shelling the woods where the Rebel sniping came from. The 20th Massachusetts returned fire and men were being hit, falling. The boys were green and new to all this, the idea that enemy shot at them, and accurately. The boys felt their nerves as they saw the elephant first-hand, this was no drill, blood flowed and lives ended.

Baker returned to the edge of the bluff and saw a New York regiment, the Tammany Regiment it was called, making its way up the path. With the arrival of the Tammany men, there would be a total of four Union regiments on Ball’s Bluff. Colonel Baker felt more and more confident. Seeing the Tammany Regiment’s colonel, Milton Cogswell, approaching the top of the bluff, Baker waved and greeted the colonel with a line from Sir Walter Scott’s "The Lady of the Lake;"

"One blast upon your bugle horn
Is worth a thousand men."

Now, Colonel Milton Cogswell was not a lawyer-politician-officer, no sir, Cogswell was a genuine West Point professional soldier, and he saw the situation at the top of the bluff differently than Colonel Edward D. Baker. To Cogswell’s trained military eye, things looked bad, very bad. The Confederates held the high ground in woods, brush, and timber, and were picking off Union men at will, just like a turkey-shoot. Cogswell knew the Confederates were building up to a an attack. The Union boys were backed up to a steep bluff, with an unfordable river below. To increase the trouble that Cogswell saw, soon one of the guns recoiled over the cliff’s bluff. This left the Union boys with no big gun, because the Rebels had already silenced the other with sniper fire.

Colonel Baker may have been a lawyer-politician colonel, but he was not an idiot. Baker immediately caught on to the dire circumstances. He moved along the Union line encouraging the boys to stand fast. Perhaps Baker realized that if they retreated down the bluff, with only three small boats it would take hours to ferry everyone across the river. It was better to stay and fight. Certainly, Baker must have had a plan in mind for success, and to save the day for the Union boys. We’ll never know.

A Rebel sharpshooter (perhaps one not fond of poetry) drew a bead on Colonel Edward D. Baker’s pumpkin and killed him instantly with a bullet through the brain.

Death of Colonel Edward D Baker (not true to life).

The Union boys had lost their poetry quoting lawyer-politician turned colonel. Baker’s body would now be on the move down the bluff. Things began to erode into a complete skedaddle. After all, how can you conduct a battle on a bluff, where you are sitting ducks, without poetry recitation?

Some resistance and maneuvering was attempted, but as dusk began, the day was lost for the Union. As Rebel Mississippians and Virginians shot at the compacted group of Yankees, men went over the bluff as fast as they could. Union boys toppled over the bluff and in their haste to flee, they fell agonizingly onto the bayonets and heads of others making their way down the bluff. In places, the sides of the bluff were worn down to the dirt and smoothed over by men and bodies. After making it down to the narrow shore, more horror awaited.

Two boatloads of wounded soldiers (the wounded had been brought down the bluff for evacuation all day long) were trying to make their way over to Harrison’s Island. These boats were swamped by panicked men jumping onboard in their rush to save their own skin. Bullets from Rebels firing down from the bluff turned the water; "as white as in a great hail storm" as one man described. Many of the wounded of the swamped boats could not help themselves, they drowned and were swept downstream. A remaining sheet-metal skiff soon sank after being shot full of holes, now there were no boats.

Night fell with bright, scarlet muzzle flashes continuing from above. Some Union boys surrendered, some stripped down and swam to safety, others found a neck-deep ford and made it over to Harrison’s Island. Finally, over 200 Union men were killed or injured, and over 700 were taken prisoner. The Confederate losses were minimal.

Ball’s Bluff was a Union disaster. A day that was once interlaced with poetry, was now more appropriate as a subject for a dirge.

Back in Washington, Abraham Lincoln would now mourn a Union loss, and the death of a close friend.

As the third day of battle began at Gettysburg, the North and South combined had already suffered approximately 35,000 casualties. This casualty number was highest yet for a Civil War battle. Yet on July 3, the number of casualties would only increase, with more and more injuries and deaths. After this day, the normally peaceful crossroads town of Gettysburg would forever be in the lore of American history.

Barnes&Noble: Gettysburg A Battlefield Atlas

On the second day of battle at Gettysburg, the management of the Army of Northern Virginia had not been at its best. It’s a fact that during the Battle of Gettysburg General Robert E. Lee was suffering from a common malady of soldiers in the Civil War…Lee had a bad case of diarrhea. Diarrhea was not a laughing matter for a Civil War soldier. Diarrhea, with its accompanying weakness and dehydration, was a leading killer in the Civil War. During the Civil War, disease killed twice as many soldiers as battle injuries.

The Confederate assaults were not coordinated, while the Union had been effective in responding with counterattacks during the second day of battle. The Union left and right flanks, Lee’s targets for destruction on July 2, remained securely in Union control. Lee’s ailment at Gettysburg may have affected his clarity of mind and judgment, but this is speculation.

Late the evening of July 2, General George G. Meade held a council with his generals. They determined to stay at Gettysburg and wait for Lee to attack, and if Lee did not attack their lines, then they would attack his lines. General Lee had tried the left and right flanks of the Union line without success. Now on July 3, he would try the center of the Union line. The Union army would be waiting.

General Lee planned a three-pronged attack upon the Union line on the third day of battle. After an artillery barrage, General George Pickett’s division was to attack the center of the Union line. Cavalry led by General Jeb Stuart (Stuart and the cavalry had arrived late at Gettysburg. Stuart’s cavalry was the eyes and ears of the Army of Northern Virginia, it was supposed to keep Lee apprised of the location of the Union army, but had failed to do this. During much of the Gettysburg campaign, Lee did not know exactly where the Union army was, and this put Lee at a disadvantage.), would take a circular route around the Union rear and attack there. General Ewell would again be attacking the Union right flank. With both ends of the Union line pinched, Lee expected to break through the Union line’s center…and win.

The center of the Union line would first have to be weakened before it could be overcome and broken. General Longstreet used a huge artillery concentration of 150 guns for a two-hour bombardment of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. The Union artillery responded in kind, so the artillery duel consisted of approximately 300 guns, all blasting away at once. This was an enormous amount of artillery in action at once, it was heard 140 miles away in Pittsburgh. The artillery fire on the third day of Gettysburg, was described as one of the loudest noises ever heard in North America.

Despite the extraordinary noise and clamor of the Confederate artillery bombardment upon Cemetery Ridge, it was for the most part, ineffective. The Confederate artillery aim was too high and many of the awful missiles soared harmlessly over the Union infantry that was safely hunkered down behind stone walls and breastworks. There was still death and destruction, but not as much as the Rebels needed before their infantry attacked the Union center. In a cunning move, the Union artillery had slackened its fire. By slowing its artillery fire, the Yankees kept their guns ready and spared ammunition for use on the Rebel infantry when it advanced. The Yankees hoped that by slowing their rate of fire, they might lead the Confederates to believe they were running out of ammunition, and that the bombardment had been successful in blowing apart Union guns and troops. However, the Union guns and troops had not been totally blown apart, and there was still plenty of ammunition.

Friday July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg was a steamer, the morning was hazy with the air humid and heavy. Around noon, the sun burned through and added to the heat. The Yankees on Cemetery Ridge were busy the night before reinforcing their defensive breastworks with limbs, stones, dirt, and whatever else, would provide them cover. The Confederate attack was soon sure to come, and troops shifted into position.

Barnes&Noble: The Gettysburg Campaign

The time spent by the Union troops on Cemetery Ridge as they waited and prepared for the Confederate attack, must certainly have been a nervous ordeal. Perhaps there was enough time and composure of mind for these soldiers to tend to a few common tasks like eating, heating and drinking coffee, tending to equipment, writing a letter (perhaps the last to ever be written) home, or praying. There can be little doubt that across the great open field and pasture that separated the men dressed in blue from their enemy, the men dressed in gray used some of the same tasks and prayers to pass their own nervous time, before whatever was to become of them all.

Barnes&Noble: Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg Into the Fight

"General Pickett rode to confer with Alexander, then to the ground upon which I was resting, where he was soon handed a slip of paper. After reading it he handed it to me. It read: If you are coming at all, come at once, or I cannot give you proper support, but the enemy’s fire has not slackened at all. At least eighteen guns are still firing from the cemetery itself. Alexander. Pickett said, ‘General, shall I advance?’" -General James Longstreet, describing events before Pickett’s Charge. Edward Porter Alexander commanded Longstreet’s artillery.

"Up, men, and to your posts! Don’t forget today that you are from Old Virginia!"

-General George E. Pickett, to his men just before Pickett’s Charge. Many of these men never returned to "Old Virginia."

"It ain’t so hard to get to that ridge – The hell of it is to stay there."

-The thoughts of a Confederate soldier, just prior to Pickett’s Charge.

At 1:45 in the afternoon, General James Longstreet ordered the attack on the Union center. Confederate infantry numbering 15,000 began to move across a half mile of open ground. Pickett’s Charge had begun. Union artillery opened fire upon the advancing Confederates, quickly mowing many of them down. Union infantry, protected behind breastworks, held their fire…waiting for the enemy lines to come closer into better range. The Confederates paused a few hundred feet from the Union line to somewhat reorganize themselves for the final assault. A small clump of trees near an angle of a stone wall became the aim of the Confederate’s advance. Now the Union artillery used canister and its shotgun-like fire tore Confederate men apart into bits and pieces. The Confederates continued to come closer to the Union line.

Despite the instant death from canister and infantry fire, which was now raining hard down on them, General Pickett’s men bravely held their lines. Pickett’s division lost 75% of its men. Incredibly, about two or three hundred Confederates from Virginia and Tennessee were able to break through the Union line. Confederate General Lewis Armistead was able to place his hand on a Yankee cannon, just before he was mortally injured. The few charging Rebels able to break into the Union line were met by deadly point-blank fire. Soon hand-to-hand fighting began. It all only lasted about half an hour, then it was over, the Confederates began their retreat from Cemetery Ridge. Of the 15,000 Confederates who advanced across the open field toward Cemetery Ridge, only about half returned across the half-mile. The "High Tide of the Confederacy" was washed away.

"It’s all my fault, it is I who have lost this fight, and you must help me out of it the best way you can. All good men must rally."
-General Robert E. Lee, to the men of Pickett’s Charge as they return to their lines after being repulsed by the Yankees.

"This has been a sad day for us, Colonel, a sad day; but we can’t always expect to gain victories."
-General Robert E. Lee, to Colonel A.J. Lyon Fremantle of the British Army, at the end of fighting at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

Meade and the Union had won a major victory at Gettysburg. General Lee’s invasion of the North was both incomplete and unsuccessful, but it was finished. Both Meade’s and Lee’s armies were exhausted and spent after the three-day battle at Gettysburg. Meade cautiously pursued Lee’s retreating Army of Northern Virginia, but the Confederates crossed the Potomac River and escaped. President Abraham Lincoln wanted the Army of Northern Virginia destroyed and was unhappy Lee’s army escaped back to Virginia. Lincoln said Meade’s chase after Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia was like "an old woman trying to shoo her geese across a creek."

"You will, however, learn before this reaches you that our success at Gettysburg was not so great as reported-in fact, that we failed to drive the enemy from his position, and that our army withdrew to the Potomac. Had the river not unexpectedly risen, all would have been well with us; but God, in His all-wise providence, willed otherwise, and our communications have been interrupted and almost cut off."
-General Robert E. Lee, writing to his family after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg. This quote is from; Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, by Captain Robert E. Lee, His Son.

"In many instances arms and legs and sometimes heads protrude and my attention has been directed to several places where hogs were actually rooting out the bodies and devouring them."
-A description of the Gettysburg battlefield three weeks after the July 1-3, 1863 battle. This quote is from a letter written to Andrew Curtain, the governor of Pennsylvania, by David Willis. Willis was a banker and civic leader.

Today at the Gettysburg National Military Park, you will find many monuments and statues. The Virginia Memorial at Gettysburg was dedicated in 1917 by the state of Virginia. This statue shows Confederate General Robert E. Lee on his famous gray warhorse, Traveller. All of Traveller’s legs are on the ground, this indicates that General Lee died of natural causes.

Barnes&Nobel: Jennie Wade Story

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863. July 3, was a Friday. Around 8:30 that morning, 20-year-old Miss Mary Virginia (Jennie) Wade was at home and busy baking bread for hungry Union soldiers. At the Farnsworth house, almost two blocks away from Jennie Wade’s home, a Rebel sharpshooter was perched in hiding. Thinking the Wade house was a Union headquarters and hoping to pick off a Yankee officer or soldier, the Confederate sharpshooter fired a single bullet toward the Wade home.   The sniper’s bullet passed through two doors of the Wade house before it struck Jennie Wade in the small of her back just below the left shoulder blade. Jennie died instantly as the bullet tore through her heart.

Jennie Wade began each day reading from the Bible. The passage she happened to read on July 3, was; "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart." Death was abundant at Gettysburg in early July of 1863. The Union suffered approximately 3,155 killed and the Confederacy approximately 3,903 killed. Miss Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.   You can visit the Jennie Wade House in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When you visit Jennie’s home, you can see where the north side of the house is blemished with over 150 bullet and shell holes from the Gettysburg battle. On display at the Wade house, is the bullet that killed Jennie Wade, the young bread baker.

Barnes&Noble: Days of Darkness

Congress later declared that the United States flag be flown over Jennie Wade’s tomb. The United States flag still flies there now in honor and memory of Jennie Wade and of all innocent civilians killed in the Civil War.

During the night of July 1, the Confederate and Union armies continued to arrive at the crossroads town of Gettysburg. As dawn came on July 2, approximately 65,000 Rebels faced 85,000 Yankees over Gettysburg’s terrain. The Union held the high ground with a fishhook-shaped line that stretched along Cemetery Ridge. At each end of the Union line, there were hills. On the right end, there was Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill, on the left was Little Round Top and Big Round Top.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee wanted the high ground taken from the Federals. In a discussion with his "Old War Horse" General James Longstreet, Lee explained as he pointed towards Cemetery Hill; "The enemy is there, and I am going to attack him there."

Barnes&Noble: Gettysburg the Second Day

Longstreet had doubts about attacking the Yankees at Gettysburg. Longstreet did not think attacking the enemy on their high ground was the wisest thing, he preferred another plan. Longstreet’s idea was for the Army of Northern Virginia to turn the Union’s south flank and position itself between the Army of the Potomac and Washington. Longstreet’s plan would compel General Meade and his troops to attack on ground the Confederates had chosen. Longstreet thought the tactical defensive position was best, but General Lee preferred aggressive offensive movements, right here and now at Gettysburg. The Army of Northern Virginia would follow Lee’s plan.

It is one of the great questions of the Civil War…what if the Confederates had followed Longstreet’s plan instead of Lee’s at Gettysburg?

Lee’s strategy was for Longstreet to attack the Union’s left flank at Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Meade would have to send troops to the left flank to answer Longstreet’s attack. General Ewell would attack the Union right flank at Culp’s Hill. If this plan worked, the Confederates would overtake both of the Union flanks, gain the high ground, and win the battle…and maybe the war.

Lee wanted Longstreet to begin his attack as soon as possible on the morning of July 2. Due to various reasons (in light of Longstreet’s disagreement with Lee over the Gettysburg battle plans, some historians question Longstreet’s diligence in proceeding with his attack on the Union left flank) Longstreet did not have his troops into position until 4:00 in the afternoon. Part of the problem Longstreet had getting his men into position, was that the Yankees were not where they were supposed to be on their left flank. It was Union General Dan Sickles and the 3rd Corps who were to be in position and hold the Union left flank.

Dan Sickles is an interesting character and he deserves some attention.

Before the Civil War, Daniel Edgar Sickles was a lawyer and a legislator. From 1853 to 1855 he served as President Franklin Pierce’s London Legation (at the time, the United States did not yet have formal embassies). Sickles was elected to the New York Senate, and then served as a Democrat in the United States Congress from 1857 to 1861.

In 1859 while serving in the United States Congress, Dan Sickles shot and killed Philip Barton Key at LaFayette Park, which was located across the street from Sickles’ home and the White House. Key was having an affair with Mrs. Sickles, so Sickles killed him. By coincidence, Philip Barton Key also happened to be the son of Francis Scott Key, the composer of "The Star Spangled Banner".

Sickles chose Edwin Stanton as his defense attorney (Stanton would later serve as Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War). Stanton used a unique and new tactic to defend Sickles. Stanton claimed Sickles was innocent of murder because he was temporarily insane when he killed his wife’s lover. The jury agreed and Congressman Sickles was found innocent.

After killing her paramour, Sickles publicly forgave his wife and took her back. This outraged the public. It seems the public understood the business of an outraged husband shooting and killing his cheating wife’s lover (Sickles had the public’s understanding and sympathy during all this drama), but for the husband to then forgive his wife and take her back, well, that was just too much for people to stomach in 19th century America. With the loss of voter support, Sickles’ political career ended.

At the start of the Civil War, Dan Sickles saw opportunity and a fresh start for himself. After all, there is nothing like a war to help turn your life around. He raised the Excelsior Brigade of New York City, and later in June of 1861, he was commissioned as Colonel Sickles of the 20th New York. The politician Sickles new military career was now successfully underway. Perhaps the former congressman (and also formally temporarily insane) Dan Sickles went off to war humming the "The Star Spangled Banner" to himself…fighting as he was to save the Union. Nevertheless, Sickles was now back on both of his feet. Would he be able to hang onto both of the legs those feet were attached to?

On July 2, 1863, Dan Sickles found himself at Gettysburg as the General of the 3rd Corps. As fate would have it, it was Sickles who had the duty of holding the crucial left flank of the Union line. The terrain at the south end of Cemetery Ridge where the politician now turned general Sickles was positioned, concerned him. It was low and exposed ground. Without orders, General Dan Sickles took it upon himself to make an unauthorized movement of his two divisions half of a mile forward to ground that was higher and along a road running from Gettysburg. Now his troops were positioned at the Peach Orchard and in an area congested with rocks and large boulders below Little Round Top. This rocky area was Devil’s Den. Sickles unauthorized move had provided his troops and himself with better ground, it was higher and easier to defend, but now his troops were no longer connected with the rest of the Union’s line. More importantly, in terms of the grand scheme of the battle, the Union crucial positions of Little Round Top, Big Round Top, and the Union left flank, were now all completely undefended.

Barnes&Noble: American Scoudrel

General Meade was furious when he learned what Sickles had done. Meade ordered Sickles back to his original position. Sickles had no time to follow Meade’s orders, at 4:00 in the afternoon Longstreet finally (Lee had wanted Longstreet to make this attack as early as possible on the 2nd) began his attack on the Union left.

The Confederate troops advanced upon the Yankees. Confederate Colonel William C. Oates and the 15th Alabama made their way to the top of Big Round Top. From there, three hundred feet above the field of action, Oates could see that if he could move artillery to the heights of Little Round Top, he could then tear the Federal lines apart. A brigade of Alabamians advanced upon the smaller of the two Round Tops, since only a Union signal station occupied Little Round Top. General Meade had sent General Gouverneur K. Warren (Warren was the chief topographical engineer for the Army of the Potomac) and a young lieutenant named Washington Robeling to Little Round Top to scout out the situation.

Warren and Robeling quickly realized the dire circumstances for the Union at Little Round Top. Dan Sickles and his men had their hands full fighting the advancing Confederates in the Peach Orchard, and even as Warren and Robeling surveyed the situation Hood’s Rebel Texan troops were busy advancing up the rocky ravine between Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Warren called for reinforcements and four regiments were sent from the Union 5th Corps. One of these regiments was the 20th Maine, led by Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

These Union troops were desperately needed to hold Little Round Top secure. If Little Round Top fell to the Confederates, then the entire control of the Union lines would be lost, and probably so too, the Battle of Gettysburg.

Barnes&Noble: Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg: General Joshua L. Chamberlain and the 20th Maine by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Chamberlain was ordered to hold Little Round Top "at all hazards." The 350 men of the 20th Maine double-timed up Little Round Top and took positions behind boulders and whatever cover they could find. With no time to spare, Chamberlain sent troops from his Company B to between the two Round Tops to cover the left flank. Soon, very soon, Colonel Oates and his Alabamians came upon them and for almost two hours, the men from Maine and Alabama fought it out in deadly fighting. The Confederates made repeated assaults and finally one-third of Chamberlain’s men were either injured or killed, and the rest were completely or nearly out of ammunition. The Confederates were now preparing for another assault. Colonel Chamberlain and the 20th Maine, and the Union left flank, were in very serious trouble. With quick thinking, Chamberlain ordered part of his remaining line to drop back until it formed a right angle with the rest of the Union line.

Chamberlain had two choices, either advance or retreat. He chose to advance and ordered his men to fix bayonets. The right of the Maine regiment held its position while the left side made a running advance down the hillside of Little Round Top towards the Alabamians. The Union advance wheeled to its right during this advance, "like a great gate upon a post" according to a witness.

The Confederates were shocked and taken by surprise with this bold movement, some surrendered and others ran. As the Confederates ran they took more fire from Chamberlain’s Company B, which had taken cover behind a stone wall. The Alabamians were now caught in crossfire. Colonel Chamberlain and the 20th Maine had held Little Round Top for the Union. The left flank of the Yankee line was secure. Later, Chamberlain would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg.

Barnes&Noble: In the Hands of Providence

General Sickles and his troops were still fighting the Confederates in the Peach Orchard, and they were in bad shape. The Rebels were giving them Hell. Soon Sickles himself would personally be in bad shape too. Confederate artillery was tearing into Sickles’ men and they were giving up ground as they fought in places called the Wheat Field, Devil’s Den, and the Valley of Death.

During all this, General Dan Sickles’ right leg was blown off below the knee. Sickles was carried from the field calmly smoking a cigar. He would survive his wound, but no longer would he stand on both of his own two feet. Sickles donated his amputated right leg to an army medical museum. In the years after the Civil War, Sickles would stop by the museum to visit his leg.

Union reinforcements from Cemetery Ridge had hurried to the Wheat Field and this opened a gap in the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Now an Alabama brigade saw the weakness in the center of the Union line and rushed to take advantage of it. A small regiment, the 1st Minnesota, was ordered by General Winfield Scott Hancock to meet the advancing Confederates. With only 262 men in its force, the 1st Minnesota charged down a slope toward 1,600 advancing Confederates. Of the 262 Minnesotans, only 47 of them were not hurt or killed. The 1st Minnesota had 82 percent of its men fall within the first five minutes of their fight. The casualties suffered by the 1st Minnesota was the highest taken by a Union regiment in the entire Civil War. The Minnesotans were successful despite their severe losses; they had filled the gap in the center of the Union line.

Confederate General Ewell staged an attack on the right flank of the Union line just before dark. For various reasons Ewell’s attack had been delayed, this action was supposed to be coordinated with Longstreet’s advance upon the Union left flank – which itself occurred later than planned. Ewell’s attacks on Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill, were repulsed.

Night came on Gettysburg’s second day of battle.

In June of 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee marched his invading Army of Northern Virginia into the Northern states of Maryland and Pennsylvania. This was Lee’s second attempt of invading the North, Antietam in September of 1862 being his first try. The goal of this second Confederate invasion was Washington, with Southern victory and a negotiated end of the Civil War. The Confederate plans of invasion and victory would die at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Army of the Potomac had gained a new commander just before Gettysburg. President Abraham Lincoln had decided by the end of June that General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker was not the man to lead the Army of the Potomac. On June 28, Lincoln made Major General George Gordon Meade his new commander of the Army of the Potomac. Meade would not have long to become familiar with his new position before he faced a huge challenge. Only three days after becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac, Meade would fight against Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his invading Army of Northern Virginia at the quiet and peaceful crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Barnes&Noble: Gettysburg the First Day

The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863. Early in the morning Confederate soldiers belonging to General Henry Heth’s division (A. P. Hill’s corps) met up with unmounted Union cavalry led by General John Buford. The Confederates were heading towards Gettysburg in hopes of finding a supply of shoes supposedly stored in the town. The resulting skirmish on the outskirts of Gettysburg was the beginning of the three-day battle. General John Buford’s cavalry arrived at Gettysburg only slightly before the Confederate troops. General Buford realized Gettysburg was a key position because of the many roads from all directions leading into the town, and because of the high ridges and hills, which made up Gettysburg’s terrain. Buford’s clear and quick thinking allowed the Union troops to occupy the high ground of Gettysburg. This was an important advantage for the Union troops during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Buford’s unmounted cavalry had a technological advantage over the Confederates. Buford’s men were using seven-shot Spencer carbine rifles and single-shot breech loading Sharps carbines. These rifles allowed the Union men to fire at a rate comparable to a larger unit of men. The Yankees had fewer guns firing, but their guns could be loaded and fired faster than the Confederate’s guns. Buford’s unmounted cavalry successfully held off three times their number for two hours, allowing time for more Union troops to arrive.

Major General John Reynolds arrived on the field at Gettysburg at approximately 8:30 in the morning. Buford’s cavalry had held the high ground for the Union, and now they were under heavy fire and pressure from the advancing and gathering Confederates. Reynolds and the infantry Union I Corps were needed to relieve General John Buford’s unmounted cavalry. Reynolds met with Buford at the Lutheran Seminary and decided to hold the field position. Reynolds then rode to the field to direct the Union I Corps.

"The enemy is advancing in strong force. I will fight him inch by inch, and if driven into the town I will barricade the streets and hold him back as long as possible." -Words of General John Reynolds at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863.

Barnes&Noble: Stars in their Courses The Gettysburg Campaign

"Forward! For God’s sake, forward!" -General John Reynolds at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, shortly before being killed by a Confederate sharpshooter’s minie bullet. At the time, Reynolds was directing Meredith’s Brigade into position at the edge of McPherson’s woods.

Reynolds died on the edge of McPherson’s woods. He was killed instantly when struck in the head by a minie bullet fired by a Confederate sharpshooter.

Reynolds was born only fifty miles from Gettysburg in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was buried at Lancaster three days after his death. At the Gettysburg National Military Park, there is a statue on McPherson’s Ridge where Reynolds fell. Reynolds was forty-three years old when he died at Gettysburg. He was a brilliant soldier and would be missed by the Union.

By afternoon of the first day, all nearby Confederate and Union troops began to make tracks for Gettysburg. The fighting was furious. A division of the Union I Corps met the Rebel assault and stopped it. This division of the Union I Corps had a unit called the Iron Brigade, it was made up of five regiments from the Midwest. The Iron Brigade was known for its hard fighting and was distinctive because its members wore black hats. The Iron Brigade lived up to its hard-fighting reputation at Gettysburg. Two-thirds of the black-hatted Iron Brigade members were lost in this battle. General O. O. Howard’s 11th Corps arrived north of Gettysburg around noon; they faced units of General Ewell’s 2nd Corps who were arriving after a fast march from the Susquehanna. More and more troops from both sides arrived at Gettysburg. Eventually, approximately 24,000 Rebels faced approximately 19,000 Yankees along a line in the shape of a semicircle running north and west of Gettysburg.

Lee arrived at Gettysburg and ordered Generals Hill and Ewell to send all they had against the Union lines. The Yankees began to retreat through Gettysburg towards the high ground of Cemetery Hill. Fighting continued street by street, house by house, and yard by yard as the Yankees retreated.

The Union retreat through Gettysburg was harried, hurried, and full of confusion. Approximately two or three thousand Yankees were captured as they tried to escape through the streets of Gettysburg. Not knowing the layout of the town streets led to confusion and entanglement for the fleeing Yankees. The men in blue could never be sure as they ran down an unfamiliar Gettysburg street; there might be Confederates waiting for them behind a house or hidden in an alley, or the street may lead to safety. Afterward, some of the Yankee soldiers could joke about the situation. They said the Rebels caught them because the names of some of their 11th Corps officers had tripped them up. Some of the names of the 11th Corps officers were Lieutenant Colonel Detleo Von Einsiedel, Colonel Waldimir Kryzanowski, and Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelpfennig.

The Confederates pushed the retreating Yankees through the town of Gettysburg until General Winfield Scott Hancock organized strong Union positions on the high ground of Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill. General Howard had earlier placed a reserve division and artillery on Cemetery Hill. The Confederate advance ended late in the afternoon of July 1. Lee ordered General Richard Ewell to renew the attack on the Yankee troops holding the high ground before night fell. In his orders to Ewell, Lee said the attack should happen "if practicable." However, General Ewell thought his men needed rest, and renewing the attack on the Yankee-held high ground was impracticable. Therefore, Ewell chose not to attack.

Barnes&Noble: The Killer Angels

At the close of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union held the high ground of Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill. During the night, General Meade and three Union corps arrived at Gettysburg. The Yankees held a formidable defensive position. Their lines stretched two miles in the shape of an inverted hook around Culp’s Hill, Cemetery Hill, and another hill named Little Round Top.

The Union held a convex interior line at Gettysburg. Picture a rainbow. The Union troops are inside the rainbow and the Confederates are on the outside of the rainbow’s arc. This meant the Yankees were able to move their troops faster from position to position than the Rebels could, and communication between Yankees was faster because the distance between the Union troops was shorter.

The holding of the high ground on the first day was an important advantage for the Union at the Battle of Gettysburg.

During May and June of 1864, Grant’s Army of the Potomac and Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fought a series of battles in Virginia, which included The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. General Ulysses S. Grant was on the attack and his goal was to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. Cold Harbor was fought on June 1-3, 1864.

Note: the term "cold harbor" meant a place to stay overnight, but where no cooked or hot meals are served. This is how the town of Cold Harbor got its name.

Overall, during this campaign of May and June in 1864, Grant’s Army of the Potomac was always moving to its left, hoping to flank the Army of Northern Virginia on its right. In early June, with the give and take of battle, the two armies were in a race to see which one would get to the crossroads town of Cold Harbor first. Lee won the race to Cold Harbor, but Grant was right behind.

General Robert E. Lee was (as usual) outnumbered. At Cold Harbor Lee had 59,000 troops facing 109,000 Yankees. The previous four weeks of fighting had taken a considerable toll on both armies. The Union suffered casualties of 44,000, while the Confederates had casualties of 25,000. General Grant’s idea was to wear Lee’s army down by constant fighting, and cause Lee to lose by attrition. Grant knew by steadily forcing Lee to fight, and to continue to fight, eventually the superior numbers of men and firepower of the North would win the war against the Confederacy. If the Army of Northern Virginia could be ground down to a nub, the Confederacy would be defeated. Grant’s plan was working.

Barnes&Noble: Cold Harbor

On June 3, at Cold Harbor, the Army of the Potomac faced a well-entrenched Army of Northern Virginia that held a good, strong, and defensive position. A newspaper reporter described the Confederate trenches as "intricate, zig-zagged lines within lines, lines protecting flanks of lines, lines built to enfilade opposing lines…works within works and works without works." Their ranks contained seasoned soldiers who knew how to fight. Though outnumbered, the trenches gave the Confederates the advantage. At dawn, General Grant sent three Federal corps in a straight-on charge against the defensively entrenched Confederates.

This charge resulted in one of the bloodiest slaughters of the Civil War. Within only seven to eight minutes, seven thousand Union men fell at Cold Harbor. The dead and wounded covered a battlefield of five acres. A Confederate general commented; "I had seen the dreadful carnage in front of Marye’s Hill at Fredericksburg, but I had seen nothing to exceed this. It was not war; it was murder." The amount of fire the Confederates poured into the Union soldiers was enormous. An Alabama colonel who witnessed the slaughter described a common end to the lives of many Union soldiers in this way; "dust fog out of a man’s clothing in two or three places at once where as many balls would strike him at the same moment." A few men from a Zouave unit managed to come close to the Confederate lines, but soon shot down. A Zouave regiment colonel was struck by so many bullets that afterwards his remains could only be identified by brass buttons, which remained on what little was left of his officer’s uniform.

Grant knew by the afternoon he had lost, and no further attacks occurred. Cold Harbor was a Confederate victory. On the evening of June 3, Grant said; "I regret this assault more than any one I have ever ordered." Grant knew his decision of a frontal charge at Cold Harbor was a mistake.

Petersburg was next for the two opposing armies.

Stonewall Jackson, shot by friendly fire the night of May 2, has his mangled left arm amputated early in the morning of May 3 at a field hospital. General Robert E. Lee says of Jackson’s importance to him and the Army of Northern Virginia; "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right. Any victory would be dear at such a cost."

The best artillery officer of the Confederacy, Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, reports to General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart early the morning of May 3 that a high piece of ground called Hazel Grove would be the perfect point to stage an artillery attack. Stuart sends a brigade made up of Tennessee and Alabama regiments to Hazel Grove. At dawn, the Confederates attack, just in time to capture four cannon and one hundred men of a Union rear guard.

Because of its very advantageous position for artillery, Hazel Grove is the key to the battlefield. If "Fighting Joe" Hooker controls Hazel Grove, he could keep the two wings of the Army of Northern Virginia separated. Hooker, with his superior number of troops, could then destroy Lee’s parted army.

Despite the great advantage of holding Hazel Grove, Hooker decides to abandon the position. Hooker chooses instead to have his troops fall back from Hazel Grove to an elevated clearing called Fairview.

Barnes&Noble: Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command by Douglas Freeman, Abridged by Stephen W. Sears

Colonel Alexander quickly moves about 36 cannon into the open space of Hazel Grove and begins firing at Yankee artillery located about 1200 yards away at Fairview, and at the crossroads of Chancellorsville itself. The Confederate artillery is triumphant. It was recently reorganized into a battalion system, allowing it to have an ample amount of guns in large, mobile groups. This organization of the Confederate artillery made it much more efficient and effective. The advantageous high ground of Hazel Grove and the battalion system of artillery management led Douglas Southall Freeman (the Army of Northern Virginia’s leading historian) to comment; "At Hazel Grove the finest artillerists of the Army of Northern Virginia were having their greatest day." With the artillery support, the Confederate infantry stages a full attack on the Federal lines.

General "Fighting Joe" Hooker experiences personally some of the Confederate artillery. Hooker is at his Chancellorsville house headquarters leaning against a white porch column on the second-story veranda. A Confederate shell hits the porch column but does not explode. Hooker is knocked unconscious and suffers a concussion, but the dazed and groggy "Fighting Joe" continues in command.

Some of Hooker’s officers wish Hooker would start a counterattack in response to the Confederate offensive. These officers are disappointed when Hooker instead chooses to retreat one or two miles towards the north into a defensive line.

The two wings of Lee’s army reunite and Lee’s great gamble at Chancellorsville pays off. The Confederates push the Yankees back to the Chancellorsville crossroads intersection. General Lee rides his horse Traveller onto the battle scene, the sight of Lee with Traveller charges the enthusiasm of the Confederates and they cheer their general. Lee is in triumph and his men are celebrating, but a crisis soon comes.

Word comes from Fredericksburg that Lee’s rear guard is in trouble. General Jubal Early leads the rear guard and his 11,000 men are up against twice as many Union soldiers led by General John Sedgwick. On the morning of May 3, Confederate Colonel Thomas M. Griffen accepts (against regulations) a flag of truce. During the truce, the Federals see that they outnumber their enemy. The Federals advance upon the Confederates, moving over ground where so much loss and grief had occurred for them the previous December during the Battle of Fredericksburg. They cross the plain below Marye’s Heights, and move over the stone wall and Sunken Road, giving Sedgwick’s troops a path to the rear of General Lee’s position.

Sedgwick’s advance ends at Salem Church, about four miles west of Marye’s Heights. Five brigades of Alabama troops (all tough and veteran fighters) led by Marcellus Wilcox, use Salem Church for protection as they make a stand. Lee sends General Lafayette McLaws and his troops to Salem Church for reinforcement of Wilcox and his Alabamians. Later, Lee himself arrives. The fighting tapers off late in the day on May 3. On May 4, the Confederates push Sedgwick back to the Rappahannock River. The Union soldiers retreat across the Rappahannock on the night of May 4-5.

With Sedgwick now across the Rappahannock River, Lee returns to Chancellorsville on May 5 and begins planning a new offensive against Hooker’s men. Nevertheless, a new Confederate offensive proves unnecessary. On the morning of May 6, Lee learns from scouts that under the cover of night, the Yankees have retreated north of the Rappahannock River.

Barnes&Noble: Chancellorsville

President Lincoln has been monitoring the Chancellorsville battle from the telegraph office in the War Department. During the battle, Lincoln hears reports that are often contradictory or incomplete. On May 6 however, Lincoln learns the certain results of Chancellorsville. He is not pleased. A newspaperman wrote Lincoln’s face turned "ashen" upon hearing the bad news of Chancellorsville. The president exclaims, "My God! My God! What will the country say?" The country’s reaction to the Union defeat at Chancellorsville is not good. With the Union’s defeat at Fredericksburg, and now a loss at Chancellorsville, the country has been hearing too much bad news too often. Things are looking bad for the Union.

For General Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy, things are looking good. Lee has won a great battle at Chancellorsville, it his masterpiece.

Meanwhile, twenty-five miles southeast of Chancellorsville in a house at Guinea Station, General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson is healing from his wounds and amputation. The news from there is good too for General Lee and the South, as Stonewall seemed to be recovering…

The night of May 1, Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson are sitting on Union hardtack boxes by campfire. Lee and Jackson are working on their battle plans. Outnumbered more than two to one, Lee still wants to take the offensive against Hooker. Lee knows the Federals hold a good defensive position on the high ground around Chancellorsville and the situation is too risky for a direct attack. Moreover, the Rappahannock River protects the Federal left, so turning it is impossible. Lee needs a way to go on the offensive. General Jeb Stuart soon provides the way.

Stuart’s cavalry scouts have found that Hooker’s right flank has no natural or artificial obstacle to protect it, Hooker’s right flank is "in the air" and vulnerable. To move without detection around to the Federal right flank, Lee and Jackson need a route through the Wilderness. One of Stonewall Jackson’s staff officers finds a man who lives in the area, and this local knows of a road used to haul charcoal to an iron-smelting furnace. Jackson can move his troops to the Federal right flank by using the charcoal-hauling road and a few other roads.

At Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee gambles with his battle plans. Lee stays with only 15,000 men to face Hooker’s main force, while Jackson takes his corps of about 30,000 men through a way of roads and paths to the Federal right. Stuart’s cavalry will screen Jackson’s movement from the Federals and Lee will divert Hooker’s attention as Jackson’s men make their way. Meanwhile, General Jubal Early has his men at Fredericksburg. Splitting the Army of Northern Virginia into three separate groups is a big risk. If Hooker chooses to take the offensive, his superior number of troops can destroy any of Lee’s separated groups. Lee counts on "Fighting Joe" Hooker to do nothing while Stonewall Jackson makes his march to the Federal right flank.

Early the morning of May 2, Stonewall Jackson begins his march. As Lee remains behind with his relatively meager amount of troops, Jackson takes his 30,000 men on a twelve-mile march around Hooker’s army. Jackson has Stuart’s cavalry to screen his march, but Union infantry still detects the Rebel movements and troops under General Dan Sickles attack the tail of Jackson’s column. General "Fighting Joe" Hooker knows of Stonewall Jackson’s flanking movement, but Hooker thinks the Rebels are retreating instead of making offensive movements. Hooker does nothing to prepare for an attack on his right flank. By late in the afternoon of May 2, Stonewall has 30,000 men behind the unaware Federal troops.

Stonewall Jackson tells Major Eugene Blackford, "You can go forward then," and with their bone-chilling Rebel Yell battle cry, the Confederates advance out of the cover of the Wilderness. The 11th Corps, under command of General Oliver O. Howard, have the Federal right. Mostly made up of German-Americans, the 11th Corps is about 12,000 strong. The 11th Corps, known as the "Dutch Corps" (a mangling of the word "Deutsche" for "German"), has a poor reputation based on previous battle action. Today would not improve the "Dutch Corps" reputation. The Confederate attack took place near suppertime and most of Howard’s troops are preparing food or relaxing. The oncoming wall of attacking rebels surprises the Federals. By nightfall, Jackson’s men have backed the Federals up two miles. It was a moonlit night, and even after dark some fighting continues in the woods and thickets of the Wilderness. Night fighting was very rare in the Civil War, but this is an example of it. Finally, darkness ends the Confederate attack.

General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson and several other officers are looking for a way to renew the attack. They are out ahead of their lines in the darkness and confusion of the Wilderness, scouting for the best way to begin a new attack. As they are returning to their lines at a trot, they come upon a regiment from North Carolina. In the dark, the Tarheels hear the horses approaching and mistake their riders as Federals, the North Carolinians begin firing and Stonewall Jackson is shot. One bullet hits Jackson in his right hand, a second in his left wrist, and the third strikes him in his left arm between the shoulder and elbow. Stonewall’s frightened horse bolts and runs toward the Federal lines, bashing Jackson’s face into a low tree branch before Jackson regains control of the horse. The most damaging third bullet shatters bone and cuts an artery. Stonewall Jackson is severely injured. He is in great pain and moved to the rear on a stretcher, but not before urging his men to continue the fight and finish the victory. General Jeb Stuart assumes command of General Jackson’s 11th Corps.

Barnes&Noble: Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy

Barnes&Noble: A Bullet for Stonewall

Night has now fallen and the fighting ends for this day. The morning of May 3 would renew the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Chancellorsville is "Lee’s Masterpiece" (Chancellorsville is a brick plantation house located in the area known as the Wilderness). At the Battle of Chancellorsville Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia is outnumbered by Union Major General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker’s Army of the Potomac by more than two to one, yet Robert E. Lee and his "right-arm" General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, defeat the Federals. Lee’s victory at Chancellorsville will provide him his path to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and another meeting with the Army of the Potomac in early July of 1863. Despite being Lee’s most canny and skillful victory, Chancellorsville will also bring a great loss to General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.

General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker was a bombastic, egotistical, and conceited individual. He was a person who thought his ends always justified his means and he would often disobey orders, jump over levels of command, or just flat out lie in order get what he wanted. Hooker was a handsome six-footer and popular with the women. Among the men Hooker served with, he was not so popular. He was not well liked or trusted.

General Joseph Hooker’s nickname of "Fighting Joe" came about by accident. The New York newspaper Courier and Enquirer had received a report about some action Hooker was involved in during McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign. The heading of the report said "Fighting – Joe Hooker" and it was meant to indicate that the report should be used to add more information to an already existing article about Joe Hooker’s part in the battle. Due to an error at the newspaper, this new report was treated as a separate article and was given the heading of "FIGHTING JOE HOOKER" with the hyphen omitted. The newspaper readers loved the nickname and it stuck. At first, Hooker himself did not much care for the nickname, but as time progressed, he liked it more and more.

President Lincoln (with some reservations) gave Hooker command of the Army of the Potomac on January 25, replacing General Ambrose Burnside. Ambrose Burnside had been a weak leader. He failed at Fredericksburg and later brought about a blunder known as the "Mud March."

The goal for the North was "On to Richmond!" If the Army of the Potomac could take the Confederate capital of Richmond, then the Confederate cause would be broken and the war won. Burnside’s loss at Fredericksburg left General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia firmly dug in with a defensive position at Fredericksburg, blocking the Army of the Potomac’s path to Richmond. With Hooker as the new commanding general, the Army of the Potomac would launch a new offensive on Richmond.

Joe Hooker went to work getting the Army of the Potomac into shape. Hooker reorganized the army and made changes in commands. The Army of the Potomac at this time consisted of nearly 150,000 troops and was the largest mobilized field army in the world. This army had become dispirited after the Union loss at Fredericksburg the previous December, but with Hooker it regained its morale. President Lincoln gave General Joe Hooker the freedom to make his own plans for the offensive campaign that would take place with the arrival of spring and the drying of the muddy winter roads. Lincoln did require two things of Hooker; that he go on the offensive as soon as possible, and that he leave Washington guarded.

Hooker planned to have one wing of his army march 40 miles upstream of the Rappahannock River and then cross it and the Rapidan River at fords located west of Confederate defenses. These troops then would move east and attack the Confederate left flank. The rest of the Army of the Potomac would cross the Rappahannock at a point below Fredericksburg to harass the Confederates there. "Fighting Joe" Hooker thought his plans were good, (his plans in fact, were not bad), and he was confident. Before the campaign he said; "My plans are perfect and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none."

Barnes&Noble: Chancellorsville

Hooker began his troop movements on April 27. General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia had spent the winter entrenched at Fredericksburg. Lee’s troops numbered about 61,000 men and Hookers’ troops about 134,000 men. Lee had less than half the men Hooker had. By April 30, Hooker had 50,000 men at a brick mansion named Chancellorsville. Chancellorsville was located at a crossroads in the dense, thicket-like, scrubby, secondary growth known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, ten miles west of Fredericksburg.

General Lee and his "right hand" General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson had correctly sized up the situation. They realized that the Yankees at Chancellorsville, and not those who were opposite them and below Fredericksburg, were the main threat of Hooker’s offensive advance. The Confederates left a division to hold the Fredericksburg entrenchments, and the greater part of Lee’s army headed west toward Chancellorsville.

On the morning of May 1, Jackson’s troops met up with Hooker’s men a few miles east of Chancellorsville. Despite having a superior number of troops, Hooker fell back to a defensive position in the Wilderness terrain around Chancellorsville. The Union troops put up entrenchments around General Hooker’s Chancellorsville headquarters.

Barnes&Noble: Lee’s Terrible Swift Sword

Major General Darius N. Couch was the Army of the Potomac’s senior corps commander and he told General Hooker there was disappointment amongst the army leaders that Hooker had chosen a defensive posture at Chancellorsville. Couch himself, had favored an offensive strategy. "Fighting Joe" Hooker told General Couch "It is all right, Couch, I have got Lee just where I want him; he must fight me on my own ground." Couch was in disbelief with what Hooker had said to him; "To hear from his own lip that the advantages gained by the successful marches of his lieutenants were to culminate in fighting a defensive battle in tha t nest of thickets was too much, and I retired from his presence with the belief that my commanding general was a whipped man."

Hooker distributed to his corps commanders a circular that included these words, "The major general commanding trusts that a suspension in the attack to-day will embolden the enemy to attack him."

Lee and Jackson would meet the night of May 1 to decide upon a plan. What these two Confederate generals conceived during their night meeting was one of the most remarkable military gambles ever devised.

On the coming day of May 2, "Fighting Joe" Hooker was going to see emboldened enemy attacking him.